The dissident strategist who negotiated a peaceful transition with communist power
A revolution for a constitution, not a paradise. An anti-utopian revolution. Because utopias lead to the guillotine and the gulag.
Raised in a communist family in Warsaw, he became a dissident after his imprisonment in the 1968 political crisis. As a strategist for the Workers' Defence Committee (KOR) and Solidarity, he participated in the 1989 Round Table talks, then as the founding editor of Gazeta Wyborcza led the election campaign and proposed the 'Your President, Our Prime Minister' formula that enabled a peaceful division of power with the communists. He later withdrew from politics to remain an influential journalist and liberal democratic voice.
Career Timeline
- 1968Imprisoned for dissident activity
- 1977Active in Workers' Defence Committee (KOR)
- 1980–1989Solidarity adviser, re-imprisoned under martial law
- 1989Round Table negotiator, founding editor of Gazeta Wyborcza
- 1989.07Proposes 'Your President, Our Prime Minister' formula
- 1989–1991Member of Contract Sejm
- 1989–현재Editor-in-chief, Gazeta Wyborcza